Ahmedabad: A sessions court on Friday rejected the discharge applications filed by directors and CEO of Khyati Hospital, including Kartik Patel, in connection with the allegedly unnecessary angioplasty conducted under the PMJAY scheme, which led to the death of two patients in 2024.Additional sessions judge A S Vyas at the Ahmedabad rural court refused to discharge the hospital director, non-executive directors, and CEO — Kartik Patel, Rajshree Kothari, Sanjay Patolia, and Rahul Jain.Earlier, the court rejected their discharge pleas on the grounds of delay in filing, but the Gujarat high court in March ordered the trial court to hear the discharge applications on merit.While asking the trial court to hear the discharge pleas afresh, the HC also ruled, “An accused may prefer an application for discharge within 60-day period ordinarily, but beyond 60 days, it does not extinguish his right to seek discharge where delay is satisfactorily explained.”Special prosecutor Vijay Barot vehemently opposed the discharge pleas and submitted that a 6,070-page chargesheet was filed in this case containing statements of 30 key witnesses, including seven statements recorded before the judicial magistrates. He also submitted that poor patients were made to undergo procedures in the name of illness, and procedures were conducted without justification to make substantial financial gains.
